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Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, is a fishing town with a long maritime history. For one boy, it was also a classroom. His father was a marine biologist, and his mother studied coastlines. Together they shaped a childhood centered on the ocean.
By age 10, he was sailing small boats with his father and learning to read the stars for navigation. At 12, he was crawling over tide pools with a camera, photographing crabs and starfish. He even built crude underwater robots from spare parts, curious to see what lived beneath the waves.
“We didn’t have much money for fancy equipment,” he once said. “So I raided the garage and wired together motors from old toys. They worked just long enough to sink.” The failures only pushed him to try again.
This early mix of curiosity and persistence would define his career.
At Dalhousie University, he chose Offshore Engineering. He added minors in Environmental Science and Marine Geospatial Technologies. It was not enough for him to study. He wanted to build.
He became president of the Marine Robotics Club and co-founded Oceans@Dal, a student think tank on sustainability. He was also on the varsity sailing team. Each role connected him more deeply with marine technology and ocean policy.
His thesis on AI-driven wave prediction earned him the Dalhousie Ocean Innovator Award. He also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal for top marks. Maclean’s magazine named him one of “Top 20 Under 20” for his research.
“University gave me equations and software,” he explained. “But it also gave me a chance to try things that seemed impossible on paper.”
After graduation, he joined OceanEdge Dynamics as a Marine Systems Engineer. He worked on offshore wind turbines, adding smart sensors to improve performance. These upgrades not only produced more energy but also reduced stress on the machines.
Later, he became an Environmental Innovation Fellow with the UN Global Compact Oceans Program. The role took him across continents. He studied illegal fishing in the Pacific, data gaps in Africa, and coastal erosion in island nations.
He recalled one project in Kenya. “We tried to train a small fishing cooperative to log catches with an app. Most had never used smartphones. By the end of the week, they were tracking daily catches better than most large fleets. It showed me tech doesn’t have to be complicated to change lives.”
In 2017, he founded Blue Horizon Technologies. His goal was to merge artificial intelligence with ocean conservation.
The company started with real-time monitoring of fish populations. Over time, it expanded to offshore wind and tidal energy, marine data analytics, and tools for sustainable fisheries management.
By 2024, the company had hubs in Canada, Norway, Japan, Kenya, and Chile. These locations reflected global need. “We didn’t want to stay in one region,” he said. “The same technology should help a fisherman in Chile, a policymaker in Norway, and a community leader in Kenya.”
The company model showed that technology and sustainability could scale together.
The work gained attention. He received the Global Marine Innovation Prize in 2022. The following year he was named a World Economic Forum Ocean Leader. Later, he was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia for contributions to environmental technology.
He also joined the boards of Ocean Supercluster Canada and the Global BlueTech Coalition. He now chairs the Atlantic Marine Innovation Network. These roles gave him a voice in shaping how marine innovation is managed worldwide.
Mark Andrew Kozlowski often points back to early failures as turning points. “We lost half our sensors in a winter storm once,” Mark said. “The survivors gave us the best data we’d ever seen. The failure paid for itself in knowledge.”
Success did not keep him away from education and outreach. He started the Kozlowski Foundation for Ocean Literacy to fund coastal education programs in underserved communities.
He donates 5% of Blue Horizon’s profits to shoreline restoration. He also mentors students in STEM programs every week.
“Young people ask questions that adults avoid,” he explained. “One student asked me why we don’t just stop fishing if it causes problems. That kind of blunt thinking forces better answers.”
He still lives in Nova Scotia with his wife, filmmaker Leila Hassan, and their twin sons, Ari and Kai. His home is carbon-neutral and built with recycled marine materials. He free dives along the coast, cooks seafood using Mi’kmaq and Acadian recipes, and keeps a reef tank featuring native species.
He also writes poetry about the sea. His small collection, Tidal Echoes, captures his lifelong fascination with the water.
“I look at the tank every morning before work,” he said. “It reminds me the ocean is not just data. It’s alive.”
The ocean is unforgiving. Saltwater corrodes metal. Waves destroy prototypes. Ice crushes equipment. Each project faces risks of failure.
Costs are also high. Offshore wind and tidal projects require heavy infrastructure. Communities worry about losing fishing grounds or changing views of the horizon.
The challenge is balancing growth with protection. Without community trust, projects stall. Without stronger materials and designs, machines break. These obstacles remain.
Marine innovation is growing fast. Offshore wind is scaling. Tidal and wave systems are advancing. Hybrid projects may combine them into reliable clean energy.
But innovation is not just about machines. It is also about people, policy, and education.
The journey from Lunenburg tide pools to global leadership shows what persistence can build. The failures taught lessons. The successes opened new paths. And the mission remains clear: to create a future where ocean resources are used wisely, not wasted.
As one engineer summed it up during a test in the North Sea, “If you can make it work here, you can make it work anywhere.” That spirit still drives marine innovation forward.
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